[In creepy Dr. Frankenstein voice] It's al-iiiiiii-ve!!

Last night was an amazing night! I was able to feel our little girl moving for the first time. Of course, Elizabeth has been feeling them move for quite some time now, but they are finally kicking hard enough to be felt on the outside.

Elizabeth called me at work yesterday to tell me that she thought she could feel them from the outside. When I got home I asked if there were any babies awake, and she said there were. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to feel anything. She said the kicks didn't feel as hard as they had earlier in the day. Based on where she was feeling those kicks, I would guess that it was our little boy.

Finally, around 9:00 last night she said she could feel kicks again, and they were harder this time. Based on the position this time (high on the right side), it must have been the girl. I had my hand on her belly for only a few moments when I felt the first one. I continued to feel for about the next 10 minutes or so and got to feel five to ten kicks. One of them was really hard, I bet I could have seen her skin move if I had been looking instead of feeling.

I have always known that our babies are in there, but with each of these milestones it becomes more and more real. Each ultrasound has made them more real, and definitely feeling the movement now is a big step. I look forward to continuing "getting to know" them until I can finally meet them in person.

I also have a couple of pictures of Elizabeth to post finally. She spent some time yesterday getting the lambs all situated on the top of the hutch on the changing table. She did a really good job; they look so cute. The first picture shows off all of the lambs arranged. I also attached a second shot that hows off her belly and how good she looks.

A nursery for two...

The nursery is starting to look more and more like a nursery. The furniture is all put together now. There is still a lot of decorating to do, but we have lots of time. It would be a shame to get it all done at once and not have anything to do for three or four months. We're finding that it's a delicate balance between getting stuff done early to be prepared, and getting things done too early and making the wait seem longer.

It's hard to imagine the wait seeming long though. I can't help but feel like it is charging toward us like a freight train. Today marks the 23 week point. 23 WEEKS!! Considering the average twins are born at 35 weeks, that leaves only 12 weeks or three months. The weeks are flying by and it's going to be September/October before we know it.

Anyway, I have some pictures to show. We'll be getting a picture of Elizabeth and her ever expanding belly on here soon. She wanted to make sure she looked cute. I don't know what she's worried about, she always looks cute! Pregnancy is being especially good to her. I can't help but admire how beautiful she is, carrying our babies.

The first picture is of me finishing up the painting. I wanted to show it to give you some idea of how hard it is to paint textured walls! Look at how hard I am pushing on the roller. We'll be hiring professional painters from now on...or just not painting anymore.



The next step was putting together the changing table, side tables, and hutch. It looks really nice all put together. It took about three evenings to get it done. Some outside help was required to get the hutch up there too!



Once I had that all put together, I assembled the cribs. They actually went together very easily. They will be easy to convert into day beds and big boy/girl beds when the time comes. They are also very sturdy, which I like a lot. The only things I'm not so crazy about is that they don't have drop gates, and it seems to me like the babies are going to be too deep in the cribs at first. We have it on the highest setting, but it still seems pretty deep. We'll see what it looks like once we get the matresses in there.



Here are both cribs completed and in place...



I'm afraid the cats are already starting to feel upset about the changes taking place around here. To help them adjust, we went and purchased a new scratching post for them. They seem to really like it. Their favorite part is definitely the little mouse hanging from the top. It's got catnip too, so I'm sure that helps.



Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned!

Ultrasound Pictures

As promised, I'm back with the latest ultrasound pictures. Unfortunately our little boy is very squirmy and we haven't been able to snap too many good pictures of him. Here are two shots of his face, if you can even make them out.





Our little girl is much more cooperative. She even brought her hand up to her mouth for one of the pictures below. Both of these shots are profile shots.





Like I said before, the little boy is a real trouble-maker. He is in the breech position and his sister is in the vertex position (head down). Since he moves around so much he just kicks her and kicks her. I won't blame her at all if she never really likes him!

Okay, it's late again...enjoy the ultrasound pictures!

A better way...

Well, I've decided that there has to be a better way than sending out a bunch of emails every time we have an ultrasound. This is it! A blog. I'm going to try my best to keep this updated as we progress through the rest of Elizabeth's pregnancy and even beyond if I have the time and energy (big IF). It will be an easy way to keep everyone up-to-date at the same time. It's not that I don't want to be personal, it's just that time is getting more and more precious as there are so many preparations to make.

This week I have started to work on getting the nursery painted. We chose a color called 'Belle Grove Light Amber.' It's pretty much just a tan color that is slightly yellow. The first night I did all of the trim-work along the ceiling. Yesterday I did everything along the baseboard and corners. The next time I get a chance to work on it I will actually be rolling the main portions of the wall. Then after touch-ups I'll hopefully be done. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to do a second coat.




The furniture has arrived (not so easily--more in a second) and is sitting in boxes in the guest room just begging me to be put together. Obviously, the painting has to be done and then I think we're going to clean the carpets as well. My mom (Karen) came up on Monday night to help pick up the furniture. We went and grabbed some dinner and then headed over to Babies 'R Us. After dealing with the rude manager there we went back out to get our vehicles ready when my mom discovered that the back of the truck was locked and she didn't have a key. OOPS! So she and I drove to Shelbyville and got the key then went back and picked up the cribs which were too big to fit in our SUV. Thanks Mom, we appreciate your help!

Yesterday's doctor's appointment went very well. We had to wait a bit for the doctor because she was at the hospital, but it wasn't too bad. She said everything looked good, including the cervical measurements. Nothing had changed since we were at the hospital last Monday so she wasn't too concerned. She did tell Elizabeth that now is the time to really start taking it easy. She instructed her to rest for a couples hours a couple of times a day. Don't worry, I'll live up to my reputation as the "Pregnancy Police." We will not have an ultrasound at the next appointment in a month (the first time we haven't had one), but she'll have to drink that glucose drink for the glucose tolerance test. She'll also be tested for anemia.

I had hoped to write more this evening and post the most recent ultrasound pictures; however, it is past my bedtime now as we had our class tonight. I'll post tomorrow.